Monsignor Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo will be present at the inauguration, with the opening to the public anticipated by one day.
The auxiliary bishop and vicar general emeritus of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Monsignor Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, will be a guest of the city of Jesolo on the occasion of the inauguration of the Jesolo Sand Nativity.
The visit of the religious authority will strengthen the message of brotherhood contained in the famous Jesolo sand nativity scene, this year dedicated to interreligious dialogue.
Monsignor Marcuzzo will bring a direct testimony of the tragedy that the populations in the Holy Land are experiencing and will illustrate a project dedicated to them, developed by the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
Monsigor Marcuzzo will take part in the inauguration of the Jesolo Sand Nativity, scheduled for Friday, November 29, with the sculpture exhibition opening to the public starting the following day. The bishop will also participate in various public events according to a program currently being defined, which will allow the entire citizenry to be involved.
The 2024 edition of the Jesolo Sand Nativity is entitled “Fratelli tutti” (All Brothers), the title of the papal encyclical published on 3 October 2020 and signed by Pope Francis on the altar of the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, which last winter hosted a majestic nativity scene made with the sand of the city, and will be dedicated to interreligious dialogue as a premise, path and testimony to becoming peoples who live as “fratelli tutti”. Although it is a Christian event, the Nativity is open to all: it is, in fact, the moment in which the Divine becomes history and affirms the dignity of every man. “Although I wrote it starting from my Christian convictions, which inspire and nourish me, I tried to do so in such a way that the reflection opens up to dialogue with all people of good will” writes Pope Francis in his document. The common thread of the encyclical is the parable of the Good Samaritan. “This parable is an illuminating icon,” continues the Holy Father. Faced with so much pain, so many wounds, the only way out is to be like the Good Samaritan. Every other choice leads to the side of the bandits, or that of those who pass by without compassion”.
The aim of the Jesolo Sand Nativity, now in its 22nd edition, will therefore be to contribute to a message of peace and dialogue. In some ways a common thread that unites the last three editions of the Jesolo sand nativity scene: the 2022/2023 edition, entitled “Sculptures of Peace”, was inaugurated a few weeks after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in the presence of the bishop of Kiev, Monsignor Oleksandr Yazlovetskij; last year was the figure of Saint Francis and the story of his life, a vehicle for messages of peace, unity and welcome, which saw the start of a collaboration with the General Custody of the Sacred Convent of Saint Francis of the Friars Minor Conventual and the sending of a message to Pope Francis by the boys of Jesolo.
Who is Monsignor Marcuzzo?
Born in San Polo di Piave (Treviso), Monsignor Giacinto Boulos Marcuzzo was appointed Patriarchal Vicar for Jerusalem and Palestine on August 15, 2017 and Auxiliary Bishop since 2020. After completing his studies at the Minor Seminary of the Missionary Institute of Saint Pius X in Oderzo, in 1960 he entered first the Minor Seminary in Beit Jala, a town located 10 kilometers south of Jerusalem, and then the Major Seminary. On April 29, 1993, he was elected Titular Bishop of Emmaus and in July of the same year he received episcopal ordination in Jerusalem. He was also chaplain in Ramallah and Malakal, in South Sudan, where he lived for 7 years as a missionary. Finally, he held the position of auxiliary bishop of Nazareth and then of Jerusalem and was a professor of theology and Arab-Christian literature and Islamology at various universities.
“We are honored to be able to host Monsignor Marcuzzo, who will bring us a direct testimony of the tribulations that the populations in the Holy Land are experiencing – declared the mayor of the City of Jesolo, Christofer De Zotti -. He will illustrate a project to support them, especially at this time, and together we will try to strengthen the diffusion of the message of this edition of the Jesolo Sand Nativity: by dialoguing and respecting each other in diversity, another world is possible”.
